"No evidence" that gunshot outside York Mosque was hate incident, police says
The announcement follows a rifle going off in the early hours of Thursday morning
There is "no evidence" that the gunshot heard outside York Mosque on Thursday (30 July) was hate-motivated, police have said.
North Yorkshire Police say they have carried out "extensive enquiries and searches" into the firing of a .22 air rifle in the early hours of Thursday morning.
York Mosque acknowledged that members of its community might have been "unsettled" by the incident, and is hosting a community event tomorrow (Saturday morning) to allow mosque members to come together.
The 44-year-old man who was arrested has been charged with possessing a loaded weapon in a public place, but the force says they have found nothing that suggests it was "ideological, hate-related, or specifically targeted against the Muslim community in York."
He is due to appear at York Magistrates’ Court on 21 September.